Spending sparingly in early Spring - frugal friendly folk gather round.

[Justanothermile]

New 'fred

Oooh Nando’s!!

Just spent £160 in next sale. £70 was on stuff for dh. He chose it then had to run back to work. The rest was for baby girl and for ds. Dh’s credit card paid. Not worried about this spend (as we have nothing for dd really and it’ll all get worn and used and next is super quality).

Also £4.50 on a massive sandwich and some bacon flavour crisps. Yum.

Back at work now and then off to dparents to pick up ds and have dinner at 5. Yay.

No riding tomorrow. cancelled earlier this week as my leg/bum injury is still giving me gip. Nice relaxed Saturday sorting out the house. And hen parents and dgodmother for dinner.

:o wreck I did wonder if that’s where you were! #notastalker

Happy Friday everyone!

Spends today:
£26 waxing; it really would be more frugal to try doing it myself wouldn't it?

thats no!!!! Don’t try home waxing!!! Ouch!!! At least if you pay someone to do it you get it over with quickly.

Cag it's always either that one or Guildford!

£8 Nando's
£9.50 ASK. DH said he would give me £5 back for that.

I bloody love Nando's!!

Work was pretty shit today, too busy and ended up working an hour over 😒 this week has been knackering.

Thanks sea I will look for that, dd is really struggling again at the moment and it's so hard to know how to help her. She's upset atm as kids are making fun of her appearance, there is nothing wrong with her appearance but kids are mean. She is very sensitive so takes every comment to heart, I bought her a book on surviving teen friendships but she seems reluctant to look at it and any hint that she could change how she responds to them or work on her friendship skills is met with resistance. It's quite frustrating really. I've got a meeting with her tutor next week so will talk to him about it, see if he has any ideas.

Cag and meadow out of interest did you struggle with friendships and peers at school? Did anything help? The older dd gets the more convinced I am that she does sit somewhere on the ASD diagnosis, she struggles with the social aspect as well as the sensory processing issues.

We are having a little city break this wend in Bristol, going up tomorrow and planning to go to 'we curious' which is a science/ exploratory type place, dinner at Zaza's and watching Annie in the evening 😊

We're staying overnight at an air bnb place which I hope is as nice as it looks and going to an animal place on Sunday. Have budgeted £80 for the wend which should be do'able, accommodation and theatre tickets are already paid for.

Hi

Spends today
£5.65 Chemist
£1 in wilco
£10 gift voucher from local shop

Born DP has moaned about the stockpile. He would also moan if products were unavailable/ extortionately priced following Brexit the stockpile is the lesser of two evils!!

That sounds like a bargain for your swimming etc Cag. DP (whose family have always been well off) can't understand why more people don't just pay up front for things like that, car tax, large household goods etc rather than paying by direct debit and having interest charges. He simply can't grasp that quite often people can't afford the large initial payout!! He tuts and tuts about companies like Brighthouse, Wonga etc - which I disagree with too, but do understand (sadly) why people have to use them

Wolf and Wreck - hope your wages situations get sorted out quickly and that you have some more £££ very soon.

Spends for me today: £5 at the bakers (cheese straws, gingerbread men etc for the DC and a chocolate slice for me, £2.50 Tesco, £12.50 for waxing. I do consider doing it myself thats but as it's my bikini line I have no idea how I'd physically do it - plus I'm a bit worried about putting wax on and possibly not being able to get it off!

Girlie yes I absolutely did. Junior school was a nightmare TBH I was a total outcast (although some of that was due to my home life too I think, always in unfitting clothes etc). Secondary was better in that I was lucky enough to go to grammar, so being nerdy was a benefit there and quite normal (TBH, looking back I can see ASD in some of my classmates) however I still absolutely struggled. I just didn’t understand the rules and always seemed to say or do the wrong thing. I was extremely sensitive too, still am if I’m honest. But I do have the bestest group of friends ever now, it might have taken a while to “find my tribe” but SO worth the wait, I have never been happier socially.

Re ASD, it may be an uphill struggle getting an assessment, but I do think it worth mentioning. If she is upset at not fitting in it may be what she needs to understand herself better. However of course at this age resistance from her may be a barrier anyway, some friends who have realised about their older children have left it up to the child to decide whether to chase it up. Hope it goes without saying I’m always on the end of a PM about any of this xx

Nice evening here, stressful earlier as had to take all three to ballet since DH is out. Cagletini was a bit of a whirlwind (although with a cute enough grin that she got away with it) and then screamed all the way home. But this evening we watched wednesday’s masterchef and then I read to the big two. Started howls moving castle with DD (we love the anime) and a book about the periodic table with DS :)

And there was cake so that’s always good

I've never been to Nandos

Wreck have you ever been to the board game shop in [same town as we were already discussing ] - apparently there is one?

Absolutely agree ruby re paying upfront for things. I am lucky that I am able to do it now and make the most of the offer (seriously bargainous) I borrowed it from the ISA but because we really do need a wardrobe (that’s what it was earmarked for, we meant to buy one when we moved in July 😳 whichever frugaleer it was who said we would end up with the hanging rail longer than planned was totally right 😳😂) mum transferred the same amount instead and I can pay her back at a gentle rate ❤️ It’s a bit ridiculous that my friend is paying the same amount as I am for all of it over twelve months, just for swimming membership, but she is going to see if they’ll change it for her. Looks like four of us will end up with memberships there so a nice social thing too.

I’m getting a bit nervous about the induction but I should be ok as long as I remember to be very clear about my physical issues. I just want a very very gentle start.

Tried doing more DLA form earlier but the laptop crashed after a couple of questions. I was half frustrated and half bloody relieved if I’m honest.

That sounds lovely girlie

Cag I haven't but I've walked past it. It's right up the other end of town and I don't park in that carpark often unless we're going to the park.

Working in the toy shop today. Must. Not. Buy. Anything.

Will be £2.20 parking for the day.

Sounds like a great deal cag and great to have something for you which you can share with friends too!

fluffy would be proud- I have just put in a complaint to Ocado as my delivery on Thursday was late and then my redelivery never turned up. Come back fluffy! They have taken the money though and will take up to 10 days to get the refund

£16 yesterday on M&S food. Dinner etc as we had no food delivery.

Need to do a big food shop as fridge is bare

Happy Saturday everyone

Put the money away wreck

Don't take your purse wreck.
Well done love. I needed fluffys opinion on soap nuts earlier. I've decided no as we have lots of sweaty kit.

Food shop today £150 ish.
£5 footy, £10 riding.
DS and pal to skate park £30 as a treat

Life I don't take my purse anywhere I have Apple pay

Well I was supposed to be in London today on a study day, but had a bit of a meltdown yesterday & decided, in the early hours, to give it a miss. It's not a frugal thing to do as I had paid for it all, but I just felt I needed the time at home. I've been working so hard lately, but with light at the end of the tunnel as we had finally recruited to our vacancy. Anyway, yesterday she withdrew having got another, more convenient job. It really tipped me over the edge, I'd rather not have recruited at all, than feel so optimistic just to have it taken away. Recruitment to these posts is really hard at the moment and it could take months to fill. I'm also feeling over committed on other fronts which isn't helping & I need to have a good sort out & decide what is & isn't realistic. So £90 wasted, but mental health just about intact! Dh & ds have gone down to Devon today for football, so it'll be dd & me here. Dd is at my mum's until later.

I've already had a clear out of my wardrobe, which had collected so much crap. I feel better just for doing that, more sorting & decluttering to go I think. I've got a few things which are worth putting on eBay/Facebook but most is either going to go in the rubbish or be charity shopped. I'm feeling like I need a root & branch sort out, if that makes sense. I need clarity. I've arranged to go to my aunty's for a chat before I pick dd up. She's like a big sister to me & I feel like I could do with that at the minute.

Sorry for the long post, I'll update on my progress later...

Have been up since 6.

So far I’ve had breakfast twocups of tea stripped the bed one load of laundry done and dried (in tumbly) another on washing line, another load in machine and another sorted for washing next. I’m seriously playing catch up at present.

Next job is to remake bed and then put dry laundry away. Dm kindly did all of our washing last week and ironed it. Just need to put away. Also need to put away all the things we bought while away and also switch over ds’ clothes so he’s got the 18m-2 set to wear.

Ds is napping. Dh has gone into work for the morning 🤨

Also need to tidy living room and maybe sort understairs cupboard as about a million toilet rolls have been delivered. Should be nsd though.

And I’ve had a bid on one of my eBay items. £5. Woop

Wreck don't do it.

Can you ring up and reschedule saying you were poorly North. Which is not million miles off. A MH day is very important imo.

Very productive em

Life I used soapnuts for about a year, until I realised they weren’t really cleaning things and I’d rather be clean than totally ecologically sound (sorry planet)

Not been posting much, I’m really struggling at the moment and I feel very down but I am trying to keep up with reading all your adventures.

North sorry you are having such a rotten few weeks. Hopefully a chill out weekend at home will help

YY wolf. My planet friendly ends at being smelly.
Sorry you are feeling down. Pm if you want a chat. ((hugs))

I'm just going to jump back in rather than catch up

Today's spends
Personal
€23.99 on new wireless headphones for running
€39+ €2 tip waxing

Joint account spends
€14.50 on breakfast & pocket money spends
€16.99 on birthday present for party dd is attending currently
€162.50 in Dunnes €45 of this was on 2 swimsuits for dd, pair of sandals & pair of runners for dd and a pack of socks for me
€17.30 on liquid zirtek as dd got a nasty bite yesterday

Hi everyone, I lurk a lot - sorry 😳, it helps to keep me on track.

I've really changed my mindset this year, from buying whatever I want without thinking about it, to only buying what I need. And I've started shopping at Aldi too, which is making a big difference (and they have lots of lovely vegetarian food).

Does anyone know if I can freeze sliced ham? I don't think it says that you can on the packet. DH and DS aren't vegetarian.

•elven• welcome. I freeze sliced ham all the time & it's been fine so far.